John Foxe's 'Acts and Monuments' and the Lollard Legacy in the Long English Reformation
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Durham E-Theses John Foxe's 'Acts and Monuments' and the Lollard Legacy in the Long English Reformation ROYAL, SUSAN,ANN How to cite: ROYAL, SUSAN,ANN (2014) John Foxe's 'Acts and Monuments' and the Lollard Legacy in the Long English Reformation, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10624/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 John Foxe's Acts and Monuments and the Lollard Legacy in the Long English Reformation Susan Royal A Thesis Presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Durham University Department of Theology and Religion 2013 Abstract This thesis addresses a perennial historiographical question of the English Ref- ormation: to what extent, if any, the late medieval dissenters known as lollards influenced the Protestant Reformation in England. To answer this question, this thesis looks at the appropriation of the lollards by evangelicals such as William Tyndale, John Bale, and especially John Foxe, and through them by their seven- teenth century successors. Because Foxe included lollardy in his influential tome, The Acts and Monuments (1563), he was the most important conduit for their beliefs and ecclesiology, and indeed, existence. His reorientation of the lollards from heretics and traitors to mar- tyrs and model subjects portrayed the lollards as members of the true church and as Protestants' spiritual forebears. Scholars have generally argued that to accomplish this, Foxe heavily edited radical lollard views on episcopacy, baptism, preaching, conventicles, tithes, and oaths, either omitting them from his book or moulding them into forms compatible with a magisterial Reformation. This thesis analyzes the lollard narratives in his tome and concludes that Foxe in fact made no systematic attempt to downplay radical lollard beliefs, demonstrat- ing that a wealth of non-mainstream material is present in the text. This suggests that Foxe was more tolerant of radical ideas than previously recognized, and that some of his theological views lay outside Elizabethan orthodoxy. More significantly, these radical views, legitimized by Foxe's inclusion of them in his book, allowed for seventeenth-century separatists and religious radicals to appropriate the lollards, through Foxe, as historical validation of their theological and ecclesiological posi- tions, including the act of separation. The thesis traces the ensuing struggle for the lollard, and indeed the Foxean, legacy between conformists and nonconformists, arguing that the same lollards that Foxe used to bolster the fledgling English church in the sixteenth century would play a role in its fragmentation in the seventeenth. ii Contents Abstract ii List of Abbreviations iv Statement of Copywrite vii Acknowledgements viii I Introductory Material 1 Chapter 1: Introduction . 3 Chapter 2: Historiography . 55 Chapter 3: The Lollards in Evangelical Histories . 77 II Re-Creating the Lollards: Model Subjects, Model Martyrs 92 Chapter 4: The Christian Commonwealth . 94 Chapter 5: The Lollard Legacy of Persecution . 129 III The Lollards and the True Church 154 Chapter 6: Priesthood and Episcopacy . 156 Chapter 7: Sacraments . 180 Chapter 8: Preaching . 203 IV Reformed Religious Culture 215 Chapter 9: Conventicles . 217 Chapter 10: Tithes . 230 Chapter 11: Oaths . 253 V Conclusions 266 Bibliography 273 iii List of Abbreviations AM Foxe, John. The Unabridged Acts and Monuments Online or TAMO (1570 edition) (HRI Online Publications, Sheffield, 2011). Available from: http://www.johnfoxe.org (accessed 16.8.13). Apologie James, Thomas. An apologie for Iohn Wickliffe shewing his conformitie with the now Church of England (1608). STC II 14445. BC John Bale, A brefe chronycle concernynge the examinacyon and death of the blessed martyr of Christ syr Iohan Oldecastell the lorde Cobham, collected togyther by Iohan Bale. Antwerp, 1544. STC II 1276. ESTC Electronic English Short Title Catalog. British Library, Lon- don: http://bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestyp/catblhold/ estchistory/estchistory.html (accessed 26.11.13) Image Bale, John. The image of bothe churches after the moste won- derfull and heauenly Reuelacion of Sainct Iohn the Euangelist, contayning a very frutefull exposicion or paraphrase vpon the same. London, 1548. STC II 1297. JEH Journal of Ecclesiastical History iv v JWRR Aston, Margaret. \John Wycliffes Reformation Reputation." Past and Present 30 (April 1965): 23-51. Reprinted in Lol- lards and Reformers: Images and Literacy in Late Medieval Religion, edited by Margaret Aston, 243-272. London: Ham- bledon Press, 1984. Pages cited from the latter. LL Thomson, John A.F. The Later Lollards, 1415-1520. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965. Norwich Trials Tanner, Norman, ed., Heresy Trials in the Diocese of Norwich, 1428-31. London: Royal Historical Society, 1977. NNT Hudson, Anne. \`No Newe Thing": The Printing of Medieval Texts in the Early Reformation Period. In Middle English Studies Presented to Norman Davis, edited by Douglas Gray and Eric Stanley, 153-74. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983. Reprinted in Lollards and their Books, edited by Anne Hudson, 217-26. London: Hambledon Press, 1985. Pages cited from the former. ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. On- line ed., edited by Lawrence Goldman, January 2008. http: //www.oxforddnb.com/ (accessed 17.10.2013). PR Hudson, Anne. The Premature Reformation: Wycliffite Texts and Lollard History. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988. RB Evenden, Elizabeth, and Thomas S. Freeman. Religion and the Book in Early Modern England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. vi STC/STC II Pollard, A.W., and G.R. Redgrave, compilers. Revised and enlarged by W.A. Jackson, F.S. Ferguson and K. F. Pantzer. A short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland and of English books printed abroad, 1475-1640, 3 volumes. London, 1986-1991. TAMO Essays The Unabridged Acts and Monuments Online or TAMO (1570 edition). (HRI Online Publications, Sheffield, 2011). Avail- able from: http://www.johnfoxe.org (Accessed: 01.11.13). Thorpe/Oldcastle Constantine, George, and/or William Tyndale, The examina- cion of Master William Thorpe preste accused of heresye be- fore Thomas Arundell, Archebishop of Ca(n)terbury, the yere of ower Lord .MCCCC. and seuen. The examinacion of the honorable knight syr Jhon Oldcastell Lorde Cobham, burnt bi the said Archebisshop, in the fyrste yere of Kynge Henry the Fyfth. Antwerp, 1530. STC II 24045. Wing Wing, Donald, compiler. Short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America, and of English books printed in other countries, 1641-1700, 3 volumes. New York, 1945-1951. WL? Hornbeck, J. Patrick. What is a Lollard? Dissent and Belief in Late Medieval England. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. A Note on Quotations All the quotations from early modern texts have been expanded, with italicized letters indicating where expansions have been made. Statement of Copyright Copyright c 2013 by Susan Royal. \The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotations from it should be published without the author's prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged". vii Acknowledgements My first thanks go to my outstanding supervisor and mentor Alec Ryrie. It should be said, though, that he has made me distinctly unpopular among my postgraduate colleagues: in postgraduate culture, bonding moments traditionally feature mutual moaning about supervisors over a pint, and I have inadvertently made many pub visits awkward by lauding Alec's professionalism, kindness, consistency, and intel- lect. This has actually only become worse as my PhD has progressed; the more I work with Alec, the more respect I have for him. So to my colleagues, I'm sorry, and to Alec, I'm immensely grateful. My second thanks go to Tom Freeman. He knows John Foxe better than Foxe knew himself, and Tom's expertise is only matched by his generosity. Tom has been helpful in so many ways, not least lending me his precious translation of Nicholas Harpsfield’s Dialogi Sex. He has offered advice, collaborative opportunities, critique, and friendship, and I'm very thankful. Many other people have helped me to think through various issues associated with the lollards/Foxe/early modern English religious culture, so many thanks are due to Euan Cameron, David Crankshaw, Ken Fincham, Andrew Hope, Jennifer Illig, Peter Lake, Richard Rex, and Jonathan Willis. Brad Gregory has given me astute advice and ample encouragement and I am very grateful for both. Patrick Hornbeck is always a friendly face at conferences, and has also pointed me in the direction of secondary literature. Simon Healy sent me a biography of Richard Bancroft that he has written, for which I'm very appreciative. Additionally, I'm grateful to the Ecclesiastical History Society for two bursaries to attend their summer meetings, where I got important feedback on my work. Thanks especially go to Charlotte Methuen, who has read two of my essays for Studies in Church History and asked her typically incisive and erudite questions. viii ix One of the perks of working in my field has been meeting Liesbeth Corens. She has always been happy to talk about my project and has steered me in the right direction on Catholic material, but her most significant contribution to my PhD has been to make numerous conference coffee breaks bearable with her witty observations.